Central Coast fast rail: $15m to be committed in the 2020 Federal Budget
A massive funding commitment for fast rail projects between Sydney and Newcastle has been revealed ahead of tonight’s Federal Budget and it has a completion date of 2023.
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A massive boost to fast rail between Sydney and Newcastle has been revealed ahead of tonight’s Federal Budget.
The government has committed $15 million towards faster rail as part of a $2.7 billion investment into transport infrastructure to aid the COVID-19 economic recovery plan.
The funding will help finalise the scope, cost, timing and delivery of faster rail projects along the rail corridor.
The project is expected to start in mid-2021 and be finalised by mid-2023.
Robertson federal Liberal MP Lucy Wicks said the funding was great news for Central Coast commuters, and would bring local jobs.
“This announcement is another crucial step the Federal Government is taking in mapping out the economic recovery for the Central Coast, from the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.
“It builds on the Federal Government’s already committed investments targeted towards making the daily commute easier for Central Coast residents, including continuous mobile coverage along the rail corridor and free Wi-Fi at train stations.”
Fast rail has been on the state and federal government agenda for many years, with many critical it will never happen.
In December 2018, Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced that the daily commute from Gosford to Sydney would be slashed by almost an hour to just 30 minutes under the State Government’s latest incarnation of a high-speed train network.
Ms Berejiklian announced $4.6 million would be spent planning routes from Newcastle to Sydney, Goulburn to Canberra, Lithgow to Parkes and Wollongong to Sydney.
The government appointed UK rail expert Professor Andrew McNaughton to chair a panel responsible for planning the proposed bullet train network.